


24 reasons why I love you

by orphan_account



Category: The Bold Type, kadena - Fandom
Genre: Advent Calendar, December AU, F/F, Fluff, domestic kadena, holiday fluff, its all very tame now but we shall see if it gets spicy later on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-07
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-13 07:25:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16888179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: A Kadena December AU. Inspired by @kat_adena on twitter:au : Adena totally would have made a personalised advent calendar for Kat with little gifts, notes, and pictures of them because even though she doesn’t celebrate she knows how excited Kat is about Christmas and how much she loves it.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I thought I'd try and add a little bit of the holiday spirit. I will try and get 25 of these but we shall see in these trying Kadena times.
> 
> All mistakes are mine.

December.

The ground is wet, reflecting the city lights in rain puddles like a portal into another dimension. Car tires roar flicking up water as they pass. Small rivulets of water vapour drip down windows as warm breath makes contact with the cold surface. Brightly decorated storefronts and glowing lights betray the damp cold outside. City dwellers and tourists alike shuffle along on side streets, large umbrellas held up high in an attempt to keep dry. The sounds of big band instrumentals float out of every department store, their disgruntled employees resigned to wearing their holiday uniforms.

 

Kat takes care to balance her workbag over her shoulder as she searches for her keys; hands digging around in the smaller purse she carries. The apartment is quiet as she enters. The door shuts behind her with a little nudge of her elbow. The warmth hits her immediately; the cold from outside left behind the large metal door as it settles into its frame. She unceremoniously places her bags on the floor by the door to be sorted out later, and with a surprising amount of grace, toes off her boots. The coat comes off next, the heavy dark wool a bit damp as she hangs it up to dry off. On another day she will remember the umbrella leaning inside the round caged part of the coat rack and the gentle reminder in the from the post-it placed on the door, a little arrow pointing downward with an illustration for good measure. 'Don't forget, A'. On that day she remembers it on her way out, although somehow manages to leave in under the desk in her office on the way home. A bemused Adena will bite her tongue seeing a drenched Kat shuffle into her apartment somehow getting soaked in the short walk from the subway station on the one day she decides to forgo the car that usually waits outside after work because it is faster to get the train to Adena's - sometimes.

The lights in the loft are low. The tall lamp in the corner and light under the kitchen cabinets bathe the room in a warm yellow. Candles decorate the side table next to her side of the bed, a small area on the window sill and the coffee table; the scent of vanilla mingling with a strong note of spice.

Careful steps bring her to the middle of the living space to stand behind a very pre-occupied Adena, sitting legs folded on a dining room chair as she works at her computer. Kat glances down to see the bright pink chord running from the laptop into earbuds. Her head bops along with her shoulders to the beat and she mouths the words to the song playing.

Adena almost doesn’t react when Kat leans down to her level, leaning in close as she rests her head on her shoulder. A hand comes up to caress gently, holding her close near the nape of her neck as Kat folds further into Adena, peppering soft kisses at the juncture between her neck and shoulder. Adena smells like Lavender oil and detergent. It's safe, comfortable, familiar.

With quick movements, Adena mutes the song, before carefully removing the earbuds. “Hello, you.” Adena breathes, leaning more into Kat's touch as her fingertips brush her skin, the pads of her fingers ticklish, but mostly relaxing.

“Hi.” Kat manages to draw herself away, still leaning on the back of Adena’s chair, to look at her girlfriend. Her girlfriend who looks so soft in a black cable knit sweater and a pair of Kat’s fleece lined joggers, cuffed at the bottom where they would be too long otherwise. Adena is barefaced and Kat thinks wistfully that she has never looked better

“I missed you.” Adena tilts her head up, lips puckered in invitation.

Kat smiles as she leans down into the kiss. Kissing her once and then again; lingering for a little bit longer. “I missed you too.” Her voice is pure and sincere. Their lips meet in another kiss for good measure before Kat finds her place sat across from Adena. “Did you get a lot of work done?”

Adena notices the way Kat seems to slump down into the chair, all of the tension from the hectic work week leaving her body once she’s in the comfort of her home. No longer worried about strategy meetings or adjusting the staffing budget, all part and parcel of being in charge. The long hours feeling longer as the days draw in. She’s out of the door on most days before the sun rises and comes home long after it has set. Kat’s only reprieve: the rare morning she’s able to sleep that little bit longer, stolen moments to make lunchbreak facetime calls to Adena. Most evenings she just wants to come home, eat dinner and curl up in the quiet.

“I did some editing… I met Gigi for lunch. Ummm, it was mostly a quiet day, not a lot of work. I called my mother, she is well. She says hello.” Adena supplies.

“Good good” Kat sighs with a smile, her arms rising above her head as she stretches out.

“And how was your day, how are you doing?” A hand reaches over across the table, attention still partially on the screen in front of her.

Working on a Saturday wasn’t a common occurrence, but all of Kat’s energy was being spent organising the promotional feature for their holiday-themed issue. so long days turned into longer days, free moments few and far between.

“I’m happy that the week is finally over” Kat manages in an exaggerated fashion, laying her head down on her arms now folded in front of her. “I have Monday off, so I am not leaving this apartment for the next 48 hours.”

“Well, you might want to go out, maybe.”

Kat usually very perceptive, misses the implication in her girlfriend's very cryptic statement. Her eyes are drawn to Adena jumping up from her perch on the chair.

“I have something for you. I thought it might cheer you up” Adena manages to get out over her shoulder as she makes her ascent up the stairs to the mezzanine level. “I am not sure if you will like it… but.” Her voice is now distant coming from the upper level as she rifles around. “I thought maybe it would be nice.”

The sound of ruffling continues as clothes and miscellaneous canvases move around in the corner space Kat had squared away for Adena.

Kat’s eyes move to her girlfriend, who appears to be holding a very large board framed gold, as she shuffles sideways down the steps. Kat makes a move to assist Adena who shakes her head “sit sit sit”. The assertive tone has Kat warily sitting down as her eyes narrow curiously.

A bit of manoeuvring and the large board is flipped around as Adena places it on the floor.

The board is of a fair size, coming up to just below Adena’s hip height as she stands it up on its bottom edge. The front is adorned with handmade boxes of assorted sizes, arranged uniformly; each is labelled with a large number printed in cursive: running from days 1 at the top to 24 in the bottom right corner. The assorted patterns are topped off with different coloured ribbons, fashioning them after gift boxes. One for each day leading up to Christmas. A small star is drawn above what would be the final day. The rest of the board is adorned with simple illustrations.

Each box was filled with small surprises, gifts, photos and trinkets all tailored for Kat.

Kat Edison who was otherwise unenthused by holidays, her cynical viewpoint of most things being ‘a cash grab indicative of the evils of capitalism’; a curt gripe at the consumerism aspect of it all. Except for Christmas.

The intermediate period between Thanksgiving and the first of the month saw a shift in Kat. There was a buzz of excitement at the end of November signalled the beginning of the season. The Rockefeller Centre Christmas tree adorned with 8km of fairly lights, traipsing down to Midtown to watch the lights switch on and drinking mulled cider while bundled up on a Saturday evening at the Christmas market near Union Square.

It had taken some creativity and a lot of planning but her small side project had come together. In the time between attending to her work and scheduling meetings, Adena had set aside time to make a personalised Advent calendar for Kat. The item had been hiding away in her studio since 'Friendsgiving' when Kat had mentioned having a calendar every year, how she had gotten lazy and no longer made the effort. It was a tradition; in the days leading up her parents would take her to pick out a calendar to sit next to the one grandma Peirce had passed down; one filled with little gifts, the other with small pieces of chocolate stamped out into various festive forms; a reindeer, and gift box, Santa.

“Did you make this?” Kat looks on in awe, her girlfriend now bouncing in anticipation.

“You like it?”

“Adena this is…thank you.” Kat pads over to take a closer look, crouching in front of it and fingering at the little boxes and intricate lettering. “You really didn’t have to do this… I know you don’t”

“I don’t celebrate… but you do.”

Kat spends a few more moments crouched in front of the creation, taking in all of the touches that are so very Adena. The colour palette is mostly earth tones, but she had added the traditional festive red and green,

“Thank you, baby,” Kat says, still in awe at the gesture.

“You mentioned how your parents would get you one every year, so I thought I could make you one and bring a little of that to you. I put something different in each one.”

All of it came together wonderfully. The level of care and specificity in the gift.

 

24 reasons why I love you

“Do you want another one?” Kat chimes from below, head resting on Adena’s lap. Her voice is muffled as she chews around the truffle, a perfect mix of bittersweet and buttery. December 1st had a small box of chocolate truffles, a Swiss import Adena assured her was worth the hefty price tag for a small assortment. The filling had been a nice introduction to the month, a bit more luxurious in comparison to the mass-produced advent calendars she had opened promptly every day after school as a child; a small treat before dinner time.

“No, I'm okay thank you,” Adena says, eyes still on the screen in front of them. Kat had mentioned it was sort of a tradition of hers to watch a movie on the first of the month. “I don’t know, I think it's something we kinda did every year at home, so I sort of just stuck with it. And so the 1964 classic was loaded up on the screen in front of them.

The look on Adena’s face is one of consternation. “So you watched this as a child?”

“Yeah, but I don’t remember it being this weird.” Kat turns slightly, angling more to the action on the screen. Christmas movies as an adult were never quite the same as during childhood.

“Right and this elf wants to be a dentist?”

“Yeah, it’s a little weird. There’s the whole thing with the Yeti”

“Huh” Adena shrugs, taking everything in at face value. She adjusts her position slightly on the couch to reach for her mug, taking a long sip of her tea as Kat sits up from being jostled slightly.

“So what did you do last year? I know you don’t celebrate but like what do you usually do around the holidays?”

“I don’t know… I think I watched Friends and ate takeout last year.”

Adena recalls re-watching the friends holiday episodes alone in the apartment she had once shared with Coco, Félix purring at her feet. She had a strange relationship with the feline. In Coco’s absence they were the best of friends, he would paw at her lap until she tickled under his chin; otherwise, the feline saw her as a hostile party competing for the attention of his human. Adena reasoned that he had been there first, so it was fair that he felt territorial. She would then quickly catch herself, laughing that she was reasoning with a cat. She missed him, sometimes.

“I stayed in Paris and Coco was away working. This time of the year is sort of an excuse for me to not do any work. It's always too cold, but yeah for the last three years, I would either spend time by myself or we’d try and be in the same place. It didn’t always work out that way. That and seeing friends, some volunteer work maybe."

Adena places her mug back on the side table next to the couch. “Before Coco, I don’t know, all of my friends would leave and go home and I couldn’t so…” It's a quiet comment, but it still resonates the same.

“Hmmh. I don’t think I’ve ever thought of December as separate from Christmas. I mean obviously I know there are lots of people who don’t celebrate but I’ve never thought of it like that.”

One day they would get into the theological side of it all, spurred on by a comment a staffer at Safford’s annual end of year function would make asking why Adena doesn’t partake in the Holiday; a more accusatory than a curious question.

Kat finds herself a lot more measured at the mention of Coco. There was the tiniest hint of insecurity still lingering there, but Adena was always quick to reassure her. That and from what Kat could glean from offhanded comments Adena would make, her relationship with Coco was at best very complicated, at worst volatile.

“So, the chocolate, how is that reason number one?” Kat questions abruptly as Adena shifts back in her seat.

“hmm?” She brings her attention round to Kat, looking at her expectantly. “Oh, they are sweets for my sweet” Adena adds smiling. “I love how sweet you are to me. You are thoughtful and caring…”. Adena could wax poetic all day but stopped when Kat leaned in to kiss her; her lips sweet and only lightly dusted with cocoa powder. Her body relaxes into her girlfriend as she folds into her side.

“Thank you, love. Really”

“I know you love the holiday above all of the holidays” Adena adds, her eyes bright.

“Oh, you haven’t seen anything yet” Kat quips.


	2. Where words fail, music speaks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 2 'Where words fail, music speaks'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello friends, the next few chapters should come out at a more reasonable schedule now that i'm almost done with univeristy for a few weeks, hope you enjoy
> 
> All mistakes are mine.

Her dream comes to an abrupt end as the urge to pee enters her consciousness.

The amber of the streetlights outside lets her know it's still dark out. The room comes into focus slowly as she adjusts to the darkness.  
The phone at her bedside signals 7:05; notifications taking up most of the screen where they had accumulated on silent mode. Even on her day off, she was up before the sun. She hadn’t been an early riser until her job necessitated it. Throughout college, she would plan her classes to maximise her time spent asleep in bed.

Like clockwork she rolls out bed, quietly ambling on the familiar route to the bathroom to relieve herself. It is not unusual for her to do so while scrolling through her personal twitter – a bad habit she knows, but under the current climate it was a small comfort to know that civilization hadn’t fallen apart while she slept.

Kat goes through the motions of washing her hands, brushing her teeth and splashing cold water on her face.

A sleeping Adena has shifted toward her side of the bed as she crawls back in. The bed dips and Adena’s eyes briefly peek open as Kat settles. She lets out a vague grunt at being disturbed before curling into Kats body, a leg thrown over her as she lays her head on her chest. Warmth tickles her neck as Adena’s breathing evens out, a mess of thick hair tickling under her nose. Adena will sleep a little longer while Kat goes through her morning routine of scrolling through her timeline and ensuring the Scarlet posts are rolling out as scheduled. She scrolls past news updates of whatever dumpster fire 45 and his administration have started overnight, desensitised at this point to this aberration in the timeline. She checks her messages, one from her mother, two from a drunk Jane at 4.a.m. inexplicably wearing a cast on her arm.  
She shoots off a text in commiseration to jane before settling back into bed, grabbing her iPad from the drawer. She spends a while going through some analytics on scarlet’s social media accounts.

She would try and go back to sleep but she’s up and alert now.

Its a lot later in the morning when Kat is making breakfast that she remembers the date. She has a skillet of eggs on the go, coffee percolating off in the corner, two slices of whole-wheat browning in the toaster. The cutting board in front of her has an assortment of fruits and berries, the number depleting as she picks off pieces while she cooks. Breakfast was her duty, a ritual on their shared days off.

The calendar is propped up on the on the countertop next to the sink. The ribbon slips off the top of the box as the lid comes away.  
She carefully lifts the little flap of wrapping tissue, peering in a little closer to see the contents.  
It's a tiny violin, not even two inches tall. It comes with a little bow, painted to look like stained maple wood. Kat turns the tiny item carefully in her hand.

She chances glance to Adena still asleep across the room, sprawled out on the bed somewhere under a mess of sheets. A lone hand hangs over the side of the bed.

A little note also sits in the box. _**“Where words fail, music speaks.”**_

She smiles at the thoughtfulness. Their first unofficial date. That’s the part she chooses to remember, not so much the rest of the night she spent in holding. Her hand throbbed the whole night. Her knuckles marred a deep purple and green. She was lucky to have not broken anything according to the physician who had checked her over.

They had met after work. An outfit consultation from Sutton and Jane sat on the edge of her bed and couch respectively and she was ready. ‘I want to look good, but not like I’m trying, you know.” Sutton had suggested the long duster, the red complimenting her colouring.

Kat was usually very confident, but she found herself tripping over herself as they walked along the waterfront. The was a chill in the wind, but she hadn’t noticed, bothered by the churning in her stomach.  
There was an attraction there obviously, she could say that confidently. Adena was sensual, mature and regal. She was bold and honest and assertive.  
It had been intimidating at the time.

She looks over now at that same woman, somewhere under the sheets likely laid out on her front, drooling. Adena was so much more than she expected.  
She be could a bit scattered, something Kat could sense with the order of things in Adena’s apartment. Adena was constantly losing her phone, had no discernible sleep schedule. She had a penchant for stealing Kat’s sweatshirts despite never buying such items herself. She would leave pieces of herself everywhere; a scarf - forgotten behind the couch, bobby pins scattered, spare memory cards piled up in a draw.

  
Adena was also careful about the things she held dear. The prayer garment she kept in Kat’s apartment was carefully folded away, a book of poems with worn out pages was stored away into her draw.

She had tried to fill the pockets of silence with something. Anything to keep rogue declarations of love from bursting out. Adena had smiled gently at the invitation to get drinks. ‘Of course, she doesn’t drink’ Kat would later kick herself.

She had struggled to get a read on the other woman. Had she been sending signals? Kat wasn’t able to discern if it was her being friendly or if there was more there. " **What does a woman flirting even look like? Flirting is flirting though right?**

It hadn’t escaped her when they came to the violinist that they were surrounded by couples embracing each other. She had stood there with her arms folded next to a silent Adena. Kat had enjoyed the spontaneity, of happening upon a live performance on their walk.

She had gotten her phone out, ever the millennial, to document the event when Adena had swiped it. ‘Be in the moment’  
In the stillness she could get lost in the music; the little smile the violinist gave her in his tweed jacket, whatever she could feel between her and Adena.

Adena had pulled her into a small restaurant. Neither were familiar with the place but Adena liked the industrial style décor and live performer in the corner. The menu was mostly vegetarian food to Adena’s delight. Another thing Kat was pleasantly surprised to find out, Adena was a vegetarian, had been since she was 6 and realised a lamb was a baby sheep. Her mother had indulged her, amused by little Adena and her protest.

A few drinks in – it was an oddity drinking alone but Adena had insisted it was fine – she felt much more relaxed, her phone long forgotten. She listened intently when Kat spoke, asked questions ‘she truly wanted the answers to’  
**‘When was the last time you lied.” “left or right side of the bed?” “do you want to share dessert?”**

 

Once breakfast is assembled, she wanders over, tray in hand to Adena who was just beginning to re-join the world of the living.

“Okay so we have 2 slices whole-wheat dry, jam, eggs scrambled, half a grapefruit and a sliced fruit medley which is for me but you’re going to eat it anyway and … one black coffee.” Adena smiles as she sits up in bed, accepting the proffered tray, shifting as Kat settles next to her. “Thank you, this looks delicious, love.”

Kat switches on the room speaker remotely from her phone, a quiet classics playlist coming on as they sit quietly – enjoying each other.

“Where words fail, music speaks.”  
The silence stands. They sit together often, just existing in the same space. The quiet grounds them to each other. They don't need to speak and things they want to say can be left until later.

 

  
It was a thoughtful gift, something she remembers when Adena picks up a vinyl whilst they’re out for the day. Some light shopping then an early dinner before parting ways as Adena makes her way back to her own apartment with promises to meet Kat and her friends for lunch the following day. She plays it, later on, it’s not the same song she had heard at the waterfront, but it has the same airy quality when she sits down to listen to it.

 

She picks up a tiny but proud balsam fir tree not even 3ft tall for her apartment on her way home. Her mother sends her back a photo of the 9ft monstrosity in the entrance way of their Connecticut house. The decorations are perfectly placed and balanced for colour and dimension; hers has… character. She at some point manages to find some string to loop in the scroll at the top of the violin before placing it on her tree.

The twinkling string of fairy lights has her smiling as she steps away, proud of her little creation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading.


	3. The woman inside the pillow fort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “The working title is, ‘The woman inside the pillow fort’”. Kat recalls.

“The working title is, ‘The woman inside the pillow fort’”. Kat recalls. The picture is printed on 4 x 3 inch heavily glossed photo paper.

The edges are blurred where the lens had focused in on Kat. The image is in the profile of Kat. The light coming from outside of their make-shift shelter colours the side of her face.

It’s rough and it's rushed; a contrast to Adena’s usual work. Her process was a slow one, measured and precise. It was a balance of finding what was natural but still honest – in her words. But it’s Kat and it’s beautiful. In one shot she had managed to capture in all parts the joy, surprise and tension knowing this was temporary; they could only remain ensconced under the cover of blankets they had pinched from the staff area, for so long before reality loomed once again. As soon as morning came, Adena’s plane would be on the ramp headed in one direction to a country Kat wasn’t sure would welcome Adena. Then came the uncertainty about where that left them, having to watch the woman she had burgeoning feelings for, disappearing into the unknown.

The quiet surrounded them in their makeshift shelter, shuttering them from the outside world. Everything felt contained, safe. Adena had taken the picture before she was ready. Although Kat had insisted, Adena was firm in that picture is a keeper.

On the reverse side there, a small paragraph written in Adena’s familiar rough scrawl, a tight cursive in which the words almost blend into one.  _The woman inside the pillow fort_. **_Reason 3:_** _You are present in all moments_. When the world is closing in and our only shelter is the worn cushions and stolen blankets in a first-class lounge. When all is lost, you are there. I love you x A.

 

 

The host greets her as soon as she enters the restaurant. A kind smile leads her to the booth where the girls are already sat down. 13:53, Kat notes the time as she slides her phone into the pocket of her coat; Sutton and Adena share a knowing smile. Okay so yes, she was 23 minutes late, but in her defence, transit was impossible during this time of year and yes she had left her apartment 5 minutes before she was supposed to meet everyone, but it's her day off and nobody mentions it.

Adena scoots over in the booth, making room as Kat settles in. They greet each other with a kiss, chaste due to present company. She is wearing a dark charcoal sweater, accented by a dark blue headscarf Sutton had complimented when they had initially sat down. Kat makes mention of ‘how beautiful’ she looks as leans in close to her side.

Sutton clearing her throat brings them out of their moment. Jane lets out a chortle when Sutton mumbles something about how ‘it’s like dangling a three-course meal in front of a starving man’. It’s all said in jest all the while Sutton pretends to be very engrossed in looking through the menu options all of a sudden. Without Richard, Sutton was still adjusting to single life, her career at the focus. She was happy for Kat and loved Adena for her, but even they could concede they were sometimes a little extra.

“Hi, tiny jane,” Kat says in a sing-song voice. Jane returns her smile.

“Hello, Sutton” Kat greets, her attention turning to her other friend across the table.

“Oh, who me?”

Kat smiles at how easily Adena folds seamlessly into her life. It’s comfortable between them. She does her best to follow along with the office gossip knowing the characters well as this point; her friends are earnest in asking her about her work; Adena picks off the tomatoes on Kat’s salad. They share a slice of cheesecake.

 

 

They walk hand in hand out into the cold, having said their goodbye’s; the girls make their way back to the office. Kat stops every once in a while, to admire the window displays as they go. Kat goes rigid as soon as she hears it. Adena’s hand on the small of her back is all that keeps her from turning to the source. The comment is quiet, but Adena feels it so viscerally, clearly directed at her, it's all she can do to pull Kat away before the situation escalates.

They don’t always hold hands, but the afternoon was nice, Kat was enjoying the rest of the day off with her love before the Artist had to trek across the city to finish up her workday.

Kat’s first instinct was always defensive. Moments like this brought things back into perspective. Sometimes people would stare, but at one point or another, Kat had just decided she wasn’t going to apologise for existing, she would hold her girlfriends’ hand proudly. Other times, they could feel the violence in other people’s words, but in all circumstances, Kat was always there. Some things Adena could shrug off but Kat was there, with comforting words and clear assurances.

It's in the back of her mind after when Kat pulls Adena close into her body and kisses her hard. They had taken a detour a few blocks down from the restaurant after the incident before coming upon a group of carolers, accompanied by the sounds of a live band. Kat was drawn in by the accompanying dogs that were also dressed for the occasion.

Kat lays a kiss on the soft cotton of Adena’s hijab as they stand close together; Adena despite feeling a bit of a gooseberry in this situation, smiles anyway looking at how giddy and excited her girlfriend is. ‘The things we do for love’ She muses. Kat will remind her later on that she doesn’t have to internalize everything. Just because there are things she is used to; doesn’t mean she has to accept them. It's a nice reminder that Kat is always there for her, always will be. And Adena feels safe.

They go over after the short set has ended, asking permission to pet the little French bulldog – his name Gerald Kat is delighted to find out. The dog seems content in his Christmas vest and antlers getting his little pats and basking in complements over his performance. Adena takes a picture on Kat’s phone for posterity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. My other stories will be updated, I just have a few things that I wanted to edit.


End file.
